Johnny Manziel needs to stick to football

After numerous controversies, Johnny Manziel needs to step away from social media and stick to football.

By ANTHONYANDROFS Southwest
Jun 16, 2013 at 3:43p ET

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The attention and success Johnny Manziel has brought to Texas A&M over the past year is really immeasurable.

Manziel's magical run to the Heisman Trophy last year put Texas A&M on the football map at just the right time, with many expecting and some hoping the
Aggies would fall flat on their faces in their first year of the SEC.

But Manziel wouldn't allow it, as his play electrified the nation and brought the national spotlight straight to College Station.

College Gameday came to town. So did just about every national publication or network looking for a story. For all that Kevin Sumlin, Damontre Moore, Ryan Swope, Luke Joeckel and every other Aggie did last season, everything really started and ended with Manziel.

He deserves all the attention and praise he's received. The renovated Kyle Field eventually should be called 'The House That Johnny Built' for everything he's done for the school.

Now if he could just shut up and focus on playing what will be his sophomore and certainly final season in Aggieland. Manziel was at his best when he was taking his Twitter sabbatical, all 17 days of it. It's hard to be in the news if there's no news to create. Unfortunately it didn't last.

So here's a little advice for Manziel:

Quit tweeting complaints about life in College Station and how you're looking forward to leaving. And while you're at it quit taking photos in Mexico, with LeBron James, at casinos, at pro football games, at pro basketball games, with Rolex watches. Quit talking about a T-shirt designer, filming country music videos, popping up on stage at concerts.

Quit telling the more than 300,000 people who follow you on Twitter how rough it is to live life in your shoes. No one's buying it. Certainly not the college students who had to go the junior college route just to get into A&M, or the ones who had to score high on their SAT or had to take AP classes just to make sure they could get accepted to the school they wanted.

No one would mind walking in your shoes, the adidas the school provided you as part of your football scholarship. The online classes Manziel took at A&M last spring certainly were difficult. But it made sense because it's hard to get around in College Station when everyone treats you differently, kind of like a God.

That sounds like a rough life, just like the other college sophomores who had to show up in class at 8 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Not online mind you, but on campus. Probably either took a bus to school (not a Mercedes) and walked across campus to get to that class.

Look, there's nothing wrong with rooting for Johnny Football. I do. I'm an Aggie. I've got the T-shirt from last year to prove it.

But the non-football act has become beyond boring. Manziel lives in a fishbowl in College Station. I get that. Sure, it's got to be tough to go to Freebirds or whatever and not be asked for an autograph or a picture.

But in the real world, where you're not a football deity, things are a lot tougher. Don't play the pity card because no one's buying it.

Manziel's not a regular college student. His success has made sure that won't happen. But regular college students don't get to live the life he does or get to do the things he's done.

He's got to know that, too. He knows that as many people who pull for him, there are that many who root for him to fail. That's why everything his does is scrutinized, people waiting for him to get arrested or have a bad photo taken or for him to say the wrong thing.

The problem is that the more he talks and the more things he does, Manziel is just creating more opportunities for his detractors to have their chance to take him to task.

Certainly complaining about how rough of a life you have as the biggest star in college football isn't the way to create sympathy for yourself.

Stick to throwing the football and while you're at it, BTHO Alabama. Manziel's good at that. The rest of the stuff is unnecessary.